Harassment: controversy reborn around Woody Allen

He had so far been spared by the #Metoo movement. But at 82, Woody Allen finds himself in the throes of sexual harassment charges, with several celebrities refusing to work with him while his adoptive daughter relaunches his allegations of sexual abuse.

The New York director, one of the most prolific in the history of cinema with fifty films made in as many years of career, had largely escaped so far to the wrath of the anti-harassment movement that brought down or has been shaken by many actors and directors since the revelations against producer Harvey Weinstein: from Kevin Spacey to Brett Ratner, to Dustin Hoffman or James Franco.

But this week, the storm threatens him, as resurfaced accusations of his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow, who accuses him since 1992 of sexually abusing her when she was seven years old.

„I’m telling the truth and I think it’s important for people to realize that a victim, an accuser, is important, that it’s enough to make a difference,“ says 32-year-old Dylan Farrow in first extracts of this interview broadcast Wednesday by the channel CBS.

„Why should not I be angry, why should not I be hurt, why should not I be scandalized after all those years when I was ignored, where I was not believed?“ Brother journalist Ronan Farrow was at the forefront of revelations about Weinstein.

Even before the broadcast of this interview, the French-American actor Timothée Chalamet, revealed in recent months in films like „Call Me by Your Name“ or „Lady Bird“ and new darling of Hollywood, declared on his Instagram account regret to have worked with Woody Allen on his new film to be released this year, „A Rainy Day in New York“.

„I do not want to take advantage of my work on this film,“ said the 22-year-old star, announcing that she is donating her salary for the film to three associations that help victims of sexual harassment, including „Time’s Up „, created in early January by a collective of more than 300 Hollywood women.

The US Weekly magazine said Wednesday that Chalamet co-star in „A Rainy Day in New York,“ Selena Gomez, had also donated „important“ to „Time’s Up“.

Shortly after the Golden Globes ceremony in early January, and following the publication of a tribune by Dylan Farrow in the Los Angeles Times, the director of „Lady Bird“, Greta Gerwig, who won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, She also expressed her regret for playing in her 2012 film, „To Rome with Love“.

– ‚If I had known‘ –

„If I had known then what I know today,“ I would not have played in this film, „she told the New York Times, adding that she would not work with him again.

Woody Allen has not reacted for the moment to this new controversy and his agent did not immediately respond to a request from AFP.

But he has always denied these allegations. Notably in 2014, in a New York Times column, where he claimed that his adopted daughter had been pushed to lie by Mia Farrow during their acrimonious divorce, and recalled that the investigators had given up pursuing him in this case.

If actresses like Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon or Rebecca Hall have also sided with Dylan Farrow, Alec Baldwin has defended Woody Allen.

„Two states (Connecticut and New York, ed) have investigated Woody Allen and have not charged him,“ said the actor who played in „To Rome with Love“ and „Blue Jasmine“, calling the situation of „unjust and sad“.

The multi-oscarized director, who has made his neuroses a trademark, has long been surrounded by a scent of scandal.

The 1992 charges coincided with the revelation of his relationship with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, a 35-year-old junior, who has been the subject of much publicity. They have since married and have two adopted daughters.

But the scandal never completely abandoned him, without preventing him from turning.

If films such as „Take the Hearts and Pull“, „Manhattan“ or „Annie Hall“ have helped make him the archetypal New York Jew, most of his recent opus have been shot in Europe , both a refuge and a source of inspiration.